


Aftermath

by OneShotWonderment



Category: Wicked - Schwartz/Holzman
Genre: F/F, Songfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-10-28
Updated: 2012-10-28
Packaged: 2017-11-17 04:53:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,803
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/547823
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OneShotWonderment/pseuds/OneShotWonderment
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Gelphie. Songfic. Sequel. Spoilers for the end of the musical. It's been four months and Elphaba cannot stay away any longer.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Aftermath

**Author's Note:**

> \- Sequel to Whataya Want From Me?
> 
> \- From Elphaba's POV!
> 
> \- Takes place four months after the musical ends.
> 
> \- Lyrics bolded and from Adam Lambert's song, "Aftermath" I didn't use all of the refrains, though.
> 
> \- For Taylor because she's my BFFEAEAEA... and she listened to giggle about the Wicked performance I saw for hours without complaining!
> 
> Disclaimer:
> 
> All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of this author. This author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

Four months; it has been four  _long_ months since that dreadfully emotional girl dropped into Oz and killed Nessarose. Four months since Fiyero was captured and my attempt at saving him turned him into a scarecrow. Four months since Fiyero and I fled from Oz, as news of my supposed death spread, to live happily ever after.

Except that it isn't exactly happy and if I have my way it will not last  _ever after_. See, the thing that no one bothers to mention about the whole perfect ending thing is sometimes they aren't what you end up wanting at all.

Don't get me wrong. I am grateful to Fiyero. He took me away from Oz when there was no option left to me…or him. He stays with me, hidden in this new country, even though he does not have to do so. The people here they have not heard tell of him or at least not enough to identify him. He could go out and live as normal a life as possible, but he stays with me and I am grateful for that. However, our solitude has also made some things clear. He and I are not a good match romantically; we are simply too different. We are decent friends, but too much time together and I want to kill him. He is also perfectly content to live in this new country, never return to Oz. He likes being treated as a commoner instead of a Prince. Every night I wish upon the stars for a way, any way, to return to our homeland because it has been four  _long_ months.

Four months of missing Glinda more then everything else about Oz combined. I would even take Galinda Upland of the Upperlands, the squeaky voiced prissy little girl I met on my first day at Shiz, over this utter loneliness. Fiyero has to tell at least once a week that we cannot tell Glinda the truth. He says that telling her would put her in danger, but not telling her, not seeing her and not talking to her, is putting me in danger of losing my mind. Fiyero does everything he can manage to get news on Glinda from the local townspeople he meets at the market so that it might ease my turbulent emotions. It helps to know that she is all right. She is achieving the things that I could not; she even managed to get rights for the Animals. Knowing these things does not lighten enough of my burden, though.

Glinda is my best friend and I am lying to her. I told her not to give up on me and that I would not let her down and then I did just that. I am letting her believe that she is alone in life when she is not. She does not deserve that; she's never lied to me in such a significant way. The guilt is eating me alive, but the unspoken love is what's killing me. I thought I was doing us both a favor by not laying everything on the line before leaving for the western lands, but all I did was create more heartache. I should have told her that I love her, that I have loved her from the moment she began to dance with me at the Ozdust Ballroom. She is everything to me…and I left everything behind.

I grab the nearby broomstick and fly away before Fiyero returns from the market. I leave him a long letter explaining everything, though he will already know most of it, and depart. He would just try to talk me out of going back and that isn't fair to anyone. It isn't fair to me and my loneliness, Glinda and her unmatched declarations of love, or even Fiyero and his interest in that shopkeeper's daughter that he doesn't think I know about. It is time to face the world I left behind me and hope for the best.

* * *

Getting to Glinda without being murdered for being me is every bit as hard as I had imagined it. She is Glinda The Good, after all, and it simply would not do to leave her unguarded. I am as frustrated by this as I am grateful. I am left with little opportunity to reach my sweet, but this protection also keeps away those who would do her harm and I can't really find fault with that.

It takes about a week of observing and a serious depletion of magic reserves to find a way in that does not trigger any magical alarms. As I walk down the hall toward where I know Glinda's room to be, sticking careful to the shadows of the wall, I make a mental note to tell someone about the way that I entered so that the hole in security can be fixed. It would not do to have someone hurt Glinda especially now.

The room is dark when I enter; the moonlight illuminating the room. I can barely make out Glinda's form huddled in her bed. It's such a familiar image that, for a second, it steals my breath. Once upon a time, seeing Glinda asleep was a thing of normality and now it was something startling. I kneel by the head of the bed, place my hand on her arm gently, and rub. Glinda does not handle rude awakes well and I learned that lesson long ago.

"Elphie?" murmurs the sleep-filled voice as blue eyes open slowly and settle upon mine. I nod and then Glinda is sitting upright in her bed, throwing the covers off her, and swinging her legs off the edge of her bed. "This is a dream, isn't it?" There is no time for me to answer before she speaks again. "Please, don't let this be a dream."

"It's not a dream, my sweet." I answer quickly knowing there is probably more coming. With that simple sentence, the blonde woman is wrapped around me squeezing for dear life and sobbing hysterically. My arms automatically go around her as well as my own tears fall. I have known for a long while that I missed and needed Glinda, but the severity of it now that she is with me is surprising. Growing up, I had always thought that it was a character flaw if a person needed someone else to be happy. It isn't.

"Elphie, Elphie, Elphie…Where have you been? It's been four months!"

"I'm sorry, Glinda, so very sorry, but we  _had_ to leave. It wasn't exactly safe for us in Oz and it wouldn't have been safe for you either if we had told you the truth." Glinda pulls back and returns to her pervious position on the edge of her bed, her eyes still glistening with happy tears. She pats the space beside her and I sit. There is a moment of silence and then Glinda speaks again.

"We?" There is a hint of jealousy there and I smile into the darkness. One can only be jealous if one cares enough to do so. Maybe there's still a place for me in Glinda's life, after all. Maybe I could be happy still.

"Fiyero and I." Glinda's flinches at that and I want to soothe over her jealousy but I can't do that if I don't know what she's jealous over. Is it because Fiyero is the one with whom I spent the last four months? Or is it that she thinks I still have romantic inclinations toward Fiyero? Before I can think of a way to address her feelings, she moves on to a different topic.

"It is safe for you to return now?"

"No, but I couldn't stand being away from you any longer." She smiles brightly. Apparently, her ability to hear only what she wants has not been dampened by time. I have no idea how being me in Oz is going to work, however if I got see such happiness directed toward me every day it will be well worth it.

 **"Have you lost your way? Livin' in the shadow of the messes that you made? And so it goes, everything inside your circle starts to overflow. Take a step before you leap into the colors that you seek. You'll get back what you give away so don't look back on yesterday."** Her words are a comfort to me. I haven't lost my chance at all and embrace her again at the joy of simply knowing that. She returns the embrace just as much and continues to say her peace.

 **"Wanna scream out, 'No more hiding!' Don't be afraid of what's inside. Gonna tell ya you'll be alright in the aftermath. Anytime anybody pulls you down. Anytime anybody says you're not allowed. Just remember you are not alone in the aftermath."** She is so certain that she can keep people from forcing me away or making me feel evil that I have to believe her. It's hard to believe that this Glinda is the same girl as the Galinda who hated me and was scared of me upon sight. She laces our fingers together, gently squeezing to bring me back to the present. She knows me so well, always has.

 **"You feel the weight of lies and contradictions that you live with every day. It's not too late. Think of what can be if you rewrite the role you play! Take a step before you leap into the colors that you seek. You give back what you give away. So don't look back on yesterday."** I can only hope that it isn't too late to change my life into the one that I want. Life since Shiz has felt so out of my control. Maybe now my life could be my own.

**"Before you break you have to shed your armor. Take a trip and fall into the glitter. Tell a stranger that they're beautiful. So all you feel is love, love. All you feel is love, love."**

Glinda makes an interesting observation. Perhaps to truly be me, I have to  _let_ myself be me. I have spent my whole life living up to other people's expectations. My father wanted me to be Nessa's primary caregiver, so I was. Madame Morrible wanted the perfect protégé, so I was. Fiyero wanted the perfect reason to escape the life he was born into, so I was. The only person I have ever really let my guard down around is the blonde holding my hand and even that was after I let myself become her perfect dress up doll. It is her final point, however, that finally provides me the opportunity I have been waiting forever for.

"All is feel  _is_ love, my sweet. Forever and always."

Glinda smiles softly. "I know, Elphie."


End file.
